Antimicrobial hydrogels formed by crosslinking polyallylamine with aldaric acid derivatives

Aqueous dispersions (0.1 wt %) of hydrogels 1 and 5--formed by crosslinking polyallylamine hydrochloride (MW 60,000) with aldaric acid derivatives, diethyl L-tartrate and N,N′-bis(methoxycarbonylmethyl)-D-glucaramide, respectively--exhibited complete (log 5) kill within 4 h of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans suspended in culture medium. This antimicrobial activity was much higher than that of uncrosslinked polyallylamine (1 wt % killed only 75% of E. coli in 24 h). When dispersed at 10 and 100 ppm, hydrogel 5 displayed complete (log 5) kill of E. coli within 30-60 and 15 min, respectively. Hydrogels 1 and 5 were active against S. aureus and Salmonella choleraesuis dried on hard stainless steel surfaces and accelerated the deaths of E. coli, P. aeruginosa, S. aureus, and C. albicans in a model skin cream formulation. A 0.8% aqueous dispersion of hydrogel 5 was also effective as a hand sanitizer, killing 99.7% of Serratia marcescens on human hands within 5 min. Hydrogels 1 and 5 caused no dermal irritation or allergic contact sensitization under the conditions of a human repeat insult patch test.